The Butcher's Daughter

Mary is a young Irishwoman who has climbed out of a ruined childhood to command ships and men-at-arms. With a loyal crew at her back, she hunts the Caribbean and grows rich in the New World, in an age of Spanish gold and hard men.

Her success does not last. The ugly past she fled in the Old World tracks her down, and she is taken before Queen Elizabeth with the headman's axe waiting for her past sins.

An ocean away, the King of Spain is gathering the largest armada the world has yet seen. His aim is to invade England and depose its Protestant queen. England cannot hope to stand against Spanish wealth and strength without every warship and every able captain.

Elizabeth offers Mary a bargain: her life in return for her loyalty, her ships and her fighting men. The novel draws on true historical events and mixes sea war and adventure with love, betrayal and a long reckoning with vengeance. It is set in the years leading to the Armada.